A typical C-shaped wire-marking clip has a chevron shape as shown in German Offenlegungschrift No. 2,655,958 which was laid open June 15, 1978. As there illustrated in FIG. 4, a large number of identically marked clips are carried by a wand, one end of which has a flared shoe to spread the clips sufficiently to fit onto a wire. For marking wires, each of ten such wands may carry clips marked with a different digit from 0 to 9, and additional wands may carry clips marked with alphabetic characters. Numbering of each wire requires one to handle individually each wand that carries a character to be applied to a wire.
A number of similar wire-marking wands and clips are marketed by other manufacturers. It is believed that all such wands on the market are plastic, and most are quite flexible and hence difficult to handle. At least one wand (SCN-07 of W. H. Brady Co., Milwaukee, WI) is formed with a bulbous longitudinal rib which stiffens the wand, thus making it easier to use. Another wand has ribs extending along the edges of its shoe to prevent the clips from rotating while they are pushed onto a wire.